


The Redemption of Harley Quinn

by Saberlord_Oboeshoes



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Harley Quinn (Comics), Poison Ivy (Comics)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:07:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29228220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saberlord_Oboeshoes/pseuds/Saberlord_Oboeshoes
Summary: Harley Quinn finds herself back in Arkham, just after an incredibly traumatic experience.  All alone, she is soon joined by her friend Poison Ivy, who comforts her.  But as the two are evaluated, their friendship may not be enough to save them.
Relationships: Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy, Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Poison Ivy/Harley Quinn
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	1. Welcome Back Bolton

Arkham Asylum had become a much quieter place once Lyle Bolton had been reinstated as warden. He personally led the escort of the newest prisoner into the changing room.

“It’s been a while, Poison Oaky. Oh, sorry, that’s not it … Poison Dart Frog. Oh, no, wait, I remember … Eco-Whore!”

“The name is Poison Ivy, you Y-chromosome infested pig!” answered the deadly redhead with fire in her emerald eyes.

“Well, this is my pigsty, and you’re officially my sow! Now be a good little piglet and follow the dress code.” Bolton tssed a woman’s jumpsuit at Iv, who didn’t try to catch it and let it fall to the ground.

“I’d like to speak with a lawyer”, she demanded. “I do believe that these bruises inflicted on my face and body constitute police brutality.”

“Yes, well, that would just be a waste of time,” answered Bolton as his angry smile started to crack. “No judge will side with you once they see what you did to Officer Montoya.”

“She polluted my tulip trees with her bullets! It’s only fair that they polluted her back!”

“And then you polluted her.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that,” Ivy answered with a smile of her own. “More like we kissed and made up.”

“By force. And when Batwoman attempted to rescue, you forced her too.”

“Yeah, I had no idea she bent that way! I was just in the moment and got lucky!”

“Yes, so, how does it feel to be Gotham City’s biggest rapist, for both male and female victims?”

“Moot. I’d much rather be known for my work in preserving the environment and…”

“GET CHANGED, WHORE!!!”

Ivy was blown back a bit, now having been reminded of why this new warden was so dreaded before. Bolton turned and exited the room, leaving her with two armed female guards.

Once Ivy had put on her orange jumpsuit, she was handcuffed again and brought outside. Bolton led them into the main prison and directed them to Ivy’s cell. It was filled with potted flowers, and had a fairly large window for sunlight.

“We took the liberty of getting you lots of pretty flowers,” Bolton explained. “Not the kind you can bust out with, though. But hey, anything to give my sows some company!”

After removing the handcuffs, the guards left the cell and locked the door. As they returned to their post, Bolton unlocked the cell next door.

The cell held another woman, blonde, in an orange jumpsuit. She sat in the center of the floor with her hair draped over her face.

“Good news!” said Bolton as he reached into his chest pocket. “You know that one phone call rule! Well, turns out it’s real But the only phone we got is an old pay phone. Still works.”

Bolton knelt down and placed his hand under her chin, then tilted her head up so he could see her blue eyes through her hair.

“So…” Bolton pulled out a quarter and held it up to her face “Who you gonna call?”

The blonde woman’s eyes widened and she screamed bloody murder.

“NOOOOO!!!!!” She crawled backwards until she hit the left wall. “No more! Please, no more! No more, please!”

Bolton stood up smiling more sadistically than ever. “Aww, what’s wrong? Are you scared of a little coin? It won’t hurt you, see?”

Bolton flipped the coin into the air, and the blonde woman covered her face as she screamed more and burst into tears.

“That’s enough, Bolton!”

Bolton turned around to see his second-in-command - Aaron Cash, a black man about half a foot shorter than him, whose left hand was a prosthetic resembling that of Cyborg in Jump City - standing just outside the cell.

“Give me a break, Cash! I’m just making sure this freak stays demotivated!”

“She’s a human being and should be treated civilly! If I have to report you again, they’ll make you sit through another seminar!”

Suddenly, the right wall of the cell began cracking up. Bolton backed up towards the door as the wall burst open from the outside. Massive vines sprout out from the hole, and Poison Ivy stepped out, looking desperate and concerned.

“Harley!?!”

Ivy ran straight to her, knelt down, and hugged her.

“Hey, get back to your own cell, freak!” demanded Bolton.

“Very well.” Ivy stood up, holding Harley in a bridal position, and carried her into her own cell, which she had already decorated by rapidly mutating the flowers she had been given.

“Hey, all freaks stay on their own…”

“Wait,” Cash stopped his boss from reaching for his gun. “Look at them.”

Ivy was sitting on the floor in her cell, holding a crying Harley who hugged her tightly.

“This will be good for relaxing their minds,” proposed Cash. “That will give us better results for their evaluations tomorrow.”

“Ah, yes, and they’ll be much more fun to play with!”

Cash looked scornfully at his boss as he went back to his post. “Can I get you ladies anything?”

“Who did this?” asked Ivy softly.

“What?”

“Who did this to her?” she shouted back.

Cash took a few steps forward.

“A month or so ago, she tried to cross Two Face. He didn’t like that. After a coin flip, he made her a toy for his gang. Kept flipping his coin to determine which of his thugs would get to play with her. Oh, and they killed her hyenas.”

Cash stepped out and locked the cell door. Ivy held Harley tighter as revenge filled her eyes.

Harley kept crying, only stopping to sneeze on Ivy’s shoulder.


	2. Ivy's Evaluation

Harley and Ivy both had their medical exams together, followed by a ct scan. They were then supposed to be interviewed by a board of psychiatrists, but Arkham had developed such a bad reputation that no doctor dared set foot in it, despite Bolton’s bragging of its safety.

As an alternative, they were each taken to a separate room where they were to be interrogated, and the interrogation would be livestreamed to the board. Bolton and Cash were the only guards willing to be alone with the two villainesses, and Cash insisted that he interrogate Harley.

Ivy was strapped down to a chair in an empty room. Bolton stood across from her, holding a clipboard. Once the camera turned its red light on, he began talking.

“Dr. Pamela Isley. Double doctorate in botany and biochemistry. Former fashion model. Eco-terrorist.”

“Don’t forget Gotham’s greatest serial rapist, for both genders!”

“So, out of all those titles, which are you the most proud of?”

“None of them. I am proud to fight for the preservation of all plant-kind.”

Bolton took out his pen and checked a box on his clipboard. “Eco-terrorist, then.”

“Oh, it’s very easy for you to say that,” Ivy llectured. “To the trillions upon trillions of plants all over the world, it is savage beasts like you who are the real terrorists. You tear them apart as you walk with your feet, consume them for your putrid health, and cut them down to make your homes!”

“Yes, it’s called the circle of life. I’m sure you learned about it in your biology courses.”

“It is a circle of death! The blood of innocent plants is on the heads of every one of the so-called higher life forms!”

“Plants don’t have blood, you dumb bitch.”

“Such insolence! When the botanical uprising comes, you will be among the first…!”

“My, you sure are full of yourself! How about we take a look at some of your greatest hits!”

Bolton took a remote from his clipboard and turned on a projector from behind Ivy. It began playing her most infamous act of terrorism. She had planted her own modified carnivorous plants throughout the park, and the day after a rainstorm, she summoned each one out of the ground. Each one grew to an immense size, larger than the rides, and snatched up people in their jaws as they were drawn to their body heat.

Ivy showed no reaction as she watched it. When it was over, she defended herself.

“Well, that’s what they get for destroying a perfectly good field of wildflowers.”

Bolton stared back at her. “Bitch, do you care about anyone?”

“Nope. Never have.”

“What about your family?”

“Plants are my only family.”

“So, what’s with Harley Quinn, then? Is she a very close friend, or do you think of her as another plant?”

Ivy flustered. She tried to look away, but remembered she had been strapped.

“Harley is … she’s just special! She makes me feel good, and that’s it!”

“Does this also make you feel good?”

Bolton played news footage of the time Ivy hitched a ride to the Amazon Rainforest. At first, she unleashed Gaia’s Revenge against big company loggers and construction crews. But then she turned her wrath onto the indigenous people, rampaging through each village and sparing not a single man, woman or child. The few survivors made their way into the city, their entire culture now destroyed.

“No, not really,” answered Ivy. “I mean, I did claim the rainforest back for plant-kind, but it was far too easy.”

“Easy, you say? OK, here’s an easy question. Are you aware that you haven’t been strapped in?”

“Um, no I felt…”

Ivy looked down and noticed that the chair straps were velcro, and had loosened. She tried to move her arms, but found that she was frozen still. She couldn’t even move her head, but then found that she was looking up at a creepily smiling Bolton against her will.

“The only strap keeping you in place is on your forehead,” Bolton explained, “and it’s doing that because I am telling it to!”

Bolton removed his headband to reveal that he was wearing a silver headband - the same type that had belonged to the Mad Hatter. Ivy gulped in fear.

“Alright, now it’s time for the fun to begin!”

Bolton used his remote to turn on nightclub music, and used his headband to force Ivy to dance like a stage stripper. She desperately tried to fight back, but her body was taken over, and continually contorted as she stripped herself down to her lingerie. All the while, Bolton made leering remarks at her, and turned to the camera to do the same.

Halfway through the song, Bolton tossed Ivy a gun; she caught it and incorporated it into her act. Then Bolton stopped the music and made Ivy freeze so that she had one hand down the front of her panties and the other hand sticking the gun in her mouth, finger on the trigger.

“How do you feel?” asked Bolton, walking up to her. “Humiliated? Ashamed? Terrified? Blink once for yes, twice for no.”

Ivy blinked once.

“Well, now you know how they feel.”

Bolton pushed his remote again, and this time multiple photographs and videos were portrayed showing Ivy’s past sexual targets.

“And this is just a fraction,” Bolton continued. “Your number of rape victims goes into triple digits. Some were security guards and scientists that you decided to play with, and then you infected them with a weed that would rapidly grow through their bodies and dehydrate them. But most were the ones you lured away from bars and nightclubs, and once you grew bored with them you fed them to your giant pitcher plants.

“But some of them did survive, and the mutilation by plants was the least painful … to their minds, anyway. They’ve looked for help, but the world isn’t all that kind to men who have been victimized by women. Most come to believe that suicide is the only way out.”

Ivy could only stare worryingly at Bolton, anticipating his command for her to pull the trigger. Instead, he stood back and removed his headband. Finally free, Ivy pointed the gun at Bolton and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. Ivy then tried to physically attack Bolton, but he quickly worked her into a position where her arms were locked behind her back, and her face was pressed up against the video screen.

“The horror, the shame, the humiliation of their bodies being turned into a puppet for a sick deviant. Just like your precious Harley. Why is it acceptable for you to inflict the same pain on multiple innocents that she went through?”

“Because I don’t care about them!” Ivy shouted.

“And there it is!” Bolton remarked triumphantly. “Absolute self-centeredness. No regard for any other human life, except for how they benefit you. Not to mention a spirit of sadism and no concern for the consequences of your actions.”

He leaned in and whispered into her ear.

“You’d make a great cop, sweetheart!”


	3. Harley's Evaluation

Harley Quinn was given a separate interrogation room. She was also strapped to a chair, but the straps were like a leather belt and very real. In front of her was an empty table, and Aaron Cash sat directly across from her.

“These straps really hurt,” she softly complained.

“Too bad,” replied Cash. “You’re a monster, and you’ll be subdued as one”.

“Monster? I’m a monster?” Harley could only talk in a loud whisper. “My babies were shot dead right in front of me! My body was violated over and over! I’m the victim here!”

“Your history says otherwise.”

“Hey, you don’t know a damn thing about me!”

“I know plenty.”

Cash placed a massive binder on the table, pulled out a folder, and pulled out numerous papers.

“Harleen Quinzel, PhD in psychology. Graduated summa cum laude, but your grades suffered once you entered graduate school. That is until you were seen hanging out with your professors off campus. After receiving your doctorate, you applied for a position here at Arkham, with hopes of getting rich and famous from writing about your experiences.”

“Yes,” replied Harley, exhausted from having going over this so many times. “And then my whole world changed when I met Joker.:

“Don’t you mean Mr. J? Or Puddin’?”

“No, I was done with him long ago. He hurt me too many times.”

“It’s funny how you should complain about that, since a love of hurting people is what you lovebirds had the most in common.”

Cash spread out numerous photos of past victims of Harley and Joker, all dead with a grotesque smile on their faces.

“Do you feel any remorse at all for any of it?”

Harley hesitated. “No, I really don’t. No matter how many jokes I helped him pull, he always found an excuse to keep hitting me.”

“So, that’s why you left him? He wouldn't stop hitting you?”

“True. Started shacking up with Ivy. She’s so much better. Says she loves me and means it. Never hits me either. Just gives me orders and yells at me when I deserve it.”

“So, you started out helping her to hurt people, then.”

“Well, sometimes. I still wanted to prove to Joker that I could be better than him, so I tried making up my own gang. I recruited a bunch of loners like me - Dr. Psycho, Clayface, King Shark. I guess I had this crazy idea that we would be the best of friends and use the power of our friendship to rise up through the criminal underworld. But it turns out a team of mentally unstable freaks with their own personal vendettas makes lousy friends. I had to sleep with them all at once just to keep us together, and even then we fell apart quickly. So outside of running errands with Ivy, I struck out solo.”

“Yes, and you clearly made your mark.”

Cash spread out a bunch more photos of Harley’s victims, their deaths had been much bloodier.

“”Still no remorse?”

Harley paused for a bit. “Well, no. I mean, I don’t specifically hunt down these people like a maniac, it’s more of a leave-no-witnesses deal … Oh, I get it! You’re trying to say I’m no better than Two Face and his gang, right? Well, you’re wrong! I haven’t hurt anyone the way that they hurt me!”

Cash slammed his palms on the table, leaned forward and looked straight into her eyes.

“Brandon Woods.”

Harley was dumbfounded. “Who?”

Cash walked behind Harley and turned on the projector. It showed the funeral of a young man named Brandon Woods, and they were just about to show a video of his life. But instead it showed a video of Harley dressed in a black widow’s outfit, holding a handkerchief to her face as she pretended to sob.

“I’m so sorry that I couldn’t make it. I just wanted to give my condolences to Brandon. He was without a doubt … THE GREATEST FUCK OF MY WHOLE LIFE!!!”

Then a video played of Harley gleefully bounding and gagging Brandon to a bed, slicing off both their clothes with a knife, and raping him.

Cash turned off the projector. “Brandon Woods. College sophomore who was paired up with you on a dating website. After letting you into his apartment, you raped him. He reported it to the police, and they did nothing. He sought comfort in his family and friends, but they laughed at him. He looked for any help at all, and found none. Finally, he took his own life just to escape the trauma.

“Now, was it just him, or are there more who kept it to themselves?”

Again, Harley hesitated. “That second one. More if you count the ones Ivy let me share with her.”

As Harley felt a strange feeling building up inside of her, Cash walked back around to the front of the desk.

“You said you watched your babies die. What were their names?”

“Um, Bud and Lou”.

“Of course, you remember. Do you remember AceBoy?”

Harley did. “Yeah.” She recalls clearly how she and her new boy toy had rigged over a hundred new handheld game consoles to explode simultaneously. And Joker still wasn’t impressed enough to call her.

Cash spread out his last set of victim photos. Eleven shots of young children, blown to bloody messes in their own homes.

“Each of them was someone’s baby,” Cash explained. “Each of them had a name.”

Cash began slapping a photo of each child, alive and happy, next to their splattered corpse.

“Minnie Fleming. Erick Lee. Elvira Guzman. Marianne Love. Hazel Turner.”

Harley tried to look away, but Cash forced her to keep looking.

“Aaron Baldwin. Christie Castro. Esther Ruiz. Kelvin Gardner. Jan Robbins.”

“Please, you’re hurting me…”

“JENNIFER JOY **_CASH_ **!!!”

That last name hit Harley like a bullet. She then noticed that the photo of the last victim was of a young girl sitting on the shoulders of the man who currently had the back of her head in his grasp.

“Have you ever really loved?” Cash removed his hands and began walking around the desk to Harley. “You know what it’s like to be called to the scene of numerous random explosions in multiple apartments and houses, to pray for hours that your home wasn’t one of them, only to find that God wasn’t listening? To watch the crime scene unit pick up bloody pieces of your children among the smoldering remains of your living room? To arrive at the hospital only to learn that your wife has already passed on? To bury all your dreams for the future in the ground? To actually have … one … bad … day?”

Cash was now standing behind Harley. He grabbed her chair, lifted her up over his head, and smashed her onto the table. Both the chair and table broke into multiple pieces, and Harley yelled out in pain.

“You got some nerve playing the victim card,” Cash preached. “After all the graves you’ve filled and minds you’ve crippled, you still think you’re a hero just because your ex would slap you around.”

Cash stomped at the base of her rib cage. As Harley yelled out again, he got on his knees as his robotic hand transformed into a miniature sonic gun, which he then forced into her mouth.

“This is one thing we can’t get away with, but I don’t care. There’s nothing left for me to lose.”

Cash noticed that Harley’s eyes were closed, but didn’t notice the teardrops at the sides.

“Hey, look at me when I’m talking to you!”

Cash pried open Harley’s eyes to find they were filled with salt water, which were now gushing down all sides of her face. She had also started the spasmodic breathing that is often associated with sobbing. Cash removed his hands and sat up as Harley genuinely cried in sorrow.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know … I never thought … oh god, am I am a monster!”

As Harley continued to cry, Cash stood up straight, and the sonic gun transformed back into a hand.

“If only I could give you what you deserve. Turns out I'm late for that.”

“What?” Harley was still flushing out tears.

“You are a monster, and you don't deserve to live. But taking your life won’t give me back what I lost. The only thing left for me is to move forward, and I can’t do that with my anger dragging me down to your level.”


	4. The Break Up

Ivy was helping a new flower of hers bloom when she heard the cell door unlock. She turned to see Harley stumble in before the door closed and locked. Ivy rushed to her and gave her a hug.

“Harley, you would not believe what that asshole Bolton did to me!”

Harley sneezed. Ivy let her go and took a step back.

“Wait, are you crying? And you’re hurt? Come on, we’ll bust out of here and take revenge on all of them!”

“He spared me.”

“Who did what now?”

“Cash. I hurt him badly, worse than what was ever done to me. He had the same anger that I have towards those who hurt me, even more of it. He should’ve killed me, since that’s what I would’ve done. But he didn’t. He's one of the good guys.”

“Well, good for him! You can rub that in his face while I’m grounding him into fertilizer. Now, let me help out with digging out this crack in the corner.”

Ivy rushed over to the crack, but Harley stayed still.

“Red, do you love me?”

“What?”

“Do you love me?”

“Of course, I do.”

“Do you know what that means?”

Ivy stood up. “Well, it means that you make me really happy.”

“Well, sure, but Cash made me realize some things. I’ve been feeling some things I haven’t felt in a long time. It really hurts me to know that I’ve hurt so many. And Joker made me happy, but he was also so controlling and easily angry and…”

Harley looked straight at Ivy as she had an epiphany.

“Just like you.”

“What? Harl, I’m nothing like that testosterone-driven asshole!”

“Whenever I was with you, you had to control every single thing I ever did. I even had to learn to breathe the right way around your plants so they wouldn’t get too much of the wrong gas.”

“Well, sure, but I never beat you or anything.”

“No, but you threatened to kill me many times if I so much as brushed up against a plant.”

“OK, so I was a little harsh, but that’s the way that beauty is preserved: with a bit of a stern face!”

That last word suddenly triggered a memory for Harley, one that she now remembered quite clearly. She sneezed again.

“When Two Face caught me, it was at a chemical factory that you sent me to.”

“Yes, I needed to make new fertilizer for my…”

“You didn’t come with me.”

“No, I thought it would be an easy job for you. I even picked up a guy from the club for you as a reward once you got back!”

“Did you look for me?”

“Well, you were taking several hours longer than I thought, and I realized I hadn’t done it with two guys in a while and…”

“Did … you … look for me?”

“Well, no. Without that chemical, my carnivorous chrysanthemums needed lots of extra attention given to them. Besides, it’s not like it would’ve been easy to track down which hideout you were in and…”

Harley turned around and walked through the massive hold in the wall.

“Harl, wait! Come back!”

As Harley continued walking, Ivy stopped just before the hole and reached out to grab Harley, who spun around and slapped Ivy across the cheek.

“Don’t touch me!” Harley ordered. “Don’t come near me, and don’t speak to me ever again!”

Ivy turned to face her in complete shock. “But Harl, I need you!”

Harley scrunched her eyes in anger. “Do you?” She reached her hand through the wall and grabbed a vine just above it.

“Um, Harl, can you please let go of that?” Ivy asked politely.

Harley didn’t. She squeezed the vine harder until fissures appeared in its green skin.

“Really, Harley. I’m gonna need you to stop that.”

Harley squeezed harder until plant juices started coming out. 

“OK, if you don’t let go right now, there will be serious…”

Harley continued squeezing until the vine almost snapped in two. Ivy screamed as she jumped at Harley and pinned her to the ground.

“You worthless plant-oppressing sack of meat! I’m gonna…”

Ivy’s angry look quickly morphed into one of shocked horror, as Harley still retained one of stern wrath.

“Get. Off. Me.”

Ivy slowly got up and walked back into her own cell. For the first time in her life, she actually had done something she regretted, and couldn’t quite grasp why.

“Oh, and by the way,” shouted Harley. “Your stupid plants have always made me sneeze! Not that you could ever care!”


	5. The Cat Comes Back

Ivy was definitely shocked to hear that she had a visitor, as she couldn’t think of anyone who would actually want to speak with her. She was brought to the visiting room, where she sat down and grabbed the telephone. Sitting across from her on the opposite side of the glass was a blue-eyed woman dressed in very wealthy attire. Sitting on her lap was a golden-eyed black cat who gave away his owner’s identity.

“Selina? Is that really you?”

“You’re as sharp as ever, Pam.”

“So, the papers were true then, huh? You really did get hitched with Bruce Wayne. He must be taking really good care of you while Batman is off-planet with the Justice League.”

“Oh, it turns out Batman is Bruce Wayne. He left an android to take his place.”

“Wait, Bruce Wayne is Batman?”

“Yes, and Oliver Queen is Green Arrow, and Ted Kord is Blue Beetle. Don’t tell anyone.”

“Please, like I’m ever going to ever talk to anyone else.”

“You can talk to Harley.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”

“That’s what she said when I spoke to her earlier.”

“You wanted to speak to both of us?”

“Of course. I can’t deny the little friendship we had during our little run as the Gotham City Sirens.”

“Oh yeah, that was fun! Why didn’t we stick together?”

“Well, probably because I’m a jewel thief who prefers to not get her hands dirty, so any partnership with two murderous psychos wouldn’t last long.”

“Well, OK, I guess so. The threesomes we had were great, though!”

“Yes, and speaking of making love, do you love Harley?”

“Um, well, I think so, or I thought so. She makes me happy, so that’s love, right?”

“Not at all. Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

“Well, that’s certainly never happened.”

“Pam, do you remember why Bruce said he and I could never be together?”

“Yeah, something about the law being between the two of you.”

“Correct. Now, do you remember my friend Holly Robinson?”

“Um … sorry, no.”

“She’s my best friend, and has been ever since we started working the streets as prostitutes. We weren’t making enough, so I resorted to stealing jewels and heirlooms from Gotham’s elite. Eventually, I worked myself up to becoming a high-class call girl, and brought Holly along with me. Still, I kept robbing precious gems just because I loved the thrill of it, and I loved the thrill of being chased even more. But there comes a time when you get tired of being chased and you want to just settle down. But Bruce didn’t see it that way, and upon learning who I really was, he intended to turn me in.”

“Did he?”

“No, Holly got to the police first. She claimed to be Catwoman and took the fall for all the thefts I had done. When I asked her why, she said it was to remove that pesky law between me and Bruce. You see, Pam, that’s what love looks like. Holly doesn’t care much what happens to her, but as long as I’m happy, she’s happy.

“When I got back to my pad, Bruce was there in full costume. I knew he was a moral man, and I thought he was gonna force me to confess for real. But to my shock, he declared that it would be insulting to waste a friend’s sacrifice. To my further shock, he removed his mask, got on his knee, and proposed.

“Do you see my point here?”

“That I should propose to Harley?”

“No. Love is the very thing that gives life meaning, and while love for gems or plants or even sex is wonderful, they are nothing compared to the love of a friend, or someone who is more than a friend. But when something you have is stopping someone you love from being their happiest, you gotta uproot it, or you both will lose reason to live.”

“OK, yes, I guess that makes sense.”

“Good. Well, I gotta head down to Blackgate and negotiate reducing Holly’s sentence. Take care, Pam.”

Selina stood up and was about to hang up the phone when Ivy noticed the massive bump in her belly.

“Selina, do you have a baby in there?” Ivy asked frantically.

“Yup!” Selina Wayne responded proudly. “She’s due any day now. I’m gonna name her Helena.”

“Oh, great! I’m so happy for you!”

“You are?”

“Of course!”

“Well, then, maybe you do know what love is after all.”

////////////////////////////////////

Harley awoke once again to the sunlight shining in through Ivy’s room. As she stretched out of her sleeping position, she noticed that she didn’t feel a need to rub the hay fever out of her nose. She also heard faint whimpering.

She turned to notice that Ivy’s room was now devoid of any green colors, replaced now with darkish brown. She also recognized that whimper.

“Ivy!”

She ran into the next room to find that all the plants were dead, withering, and dried up. Ivy herself was sitting with her back against the wall, softly sobbing into her knees.

“Ivy, what happened?” Harley knelt down and placed her hand on Ivy’s shoulder. “Did Bolton do this?”

“No, I did. I killed my babies.”

Harley was stunned for a bit. “Wha-... why?”

“Because…” Ivy wiped away her tears, breathed in some mucus and looked up at Harley. “Because you need me. But they were in the way. Now they’re not. Now you’re all I have.”

Realizing the sacrifice Ivy had made, Harley got down on her knees and they both hugged.


	6. Bolton Brags

The clocks of Arkham Asylum struck 9 AM. In the main wing, Bolton watched all the prisoners live their happy lives in their isolated, solitary cells.

Riddler and Cluemaster both scribbled away new brain teasers for each other, laughing as they solved them with their newfound friendship.

The Penguin took a step into his own private aviary, having covered his jumpsuit with birdseed. As his feathered friends came and ate off him, he smiled in euphoria.

Two Face got his new shipment of antique coins. After dumping them onto the floor, he began arranging them by size, year, and value, being extra careful not to disturb the rest of his collection in the process.

Victor Szasz rummaged through the miniature indoor forest, searching for the next kill to fill his stomach. He came to a pond and was about to reach for a fish when Killer Croc leaped out of the water, pounced on it, swallowed it whole, and submerged again. Victor’s stomach rumbled, and he knew he’d have to go back to the trough full of ground beef.

Bane spent most of time sleeping like a baby, and woke up only to eat a meal for six, followed by an intense workout session.

Ventriloquist gave Scarface a new makeover, and spoke to him like a long-lost child.

Bolton looked at them and dozens more on the video feed from his office, and gave a smug smile of satisfaction to himself.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he bragged to Cash as he walked in. “When Gordon got me reinstated, I promised that I wouldn’t let anyone suffer like his little girl did. Of course, I couldn’t keep these freaks in line like I had before, and those damn hippies upstate said the death penalty is ‘inhumane’. So, I came up with the perfect solution!”

“Yes,” said Cash. “Lobotomy.”

“Exactly! Pounded right into their frontal lobe! The demons in the minds shattered into oblivion! Now they’re just empty shells, harmless to nobody!”

“Except for Clayface and the Clown.”

“Well, I don’t see Clayface getting out of our hundred-below-zero freezer anytime soon. And the Joker should feel lucky to have his own unique cell - underground with no outdoor access except a mini-dumbwaiter and two water pipes, and free internet to all the diaper, fat, and vore fetish art he can soak his eyes into.”

Bolton stood up and stretched his arms across all the screens.

“I did it! I did what the gutless police, mindless bureaucrats, and coddling doctors never could! I’ve saved Gotham from its pathetic miscreants!”

“Congratulations,” Cash said dryly.

Bolton turned to face him. “I’m confident that when they finally catch Scarecrow and Mr. Freeze, they won’t be much of a problem for you.”

“For me?”

“Yes, I’ve been offered new employment at Belle Reeve. Pays ten times as much here. I know we’ve had our differences, but I also feel like I’ve rubbed off on you enough to keep my dream alive.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I will,” Cash slammed down two files on the table and began going through them. “Got the psychiatric results for Drs. Isley and Quinzel done.”

“Good! So, two more psycho brains to pound?”

“Wel, kinda. Dr. Isley is a high level psychopath, while Dr. Quinzel is a high level sociopath.”

“Aren’t those the same thing?”

“No. There are key differences between the two, the biggest one is regards to empathy. Sociopaths are capable of forming an emotional attachment with other people, although they find it hard to make any type of relationship work. Psychopaths are incapable of emotionally connecting to anyone.”

“Wait, doesn’t that plant-whore have an emotional connection to plants?”

“Well, psychopaths are still human, and it's in human nature to seek out happiness. That reeks true for all the inmates here and the depraved manners they went about looking for it,” Cash answered as he glared back at his superior.

“Ah, nice semantics lesson. So, how much longer before I can penetrate their pretty little skulls?”

Cash pulled out a third file from underneath the other two. “Yeah, about that. It seems that their medical records might put a delay on that.”


	7. Seed of Life

Harley and Ivy awoke in the embrace of each other’s arms, and their legs intertwined. Their orange prison jumpsuits had been cast aside, They both still wore their sweaty lingerie, the odor of which mingled in perfectly with the dead plant corpses surrounding them.

They stared lovingly into each other’s eyes, and Ivy played with Harley’s blonde hair.

“So, you really love me, Red?” Harley asked sheepishly.

“Yes, my sweet sunflower!”

“More than a real sunflower?”

“More than any other flower. I’ll kill all the flowers in all the world, just for you!”

“OK, you won’t have to do that.”

“And if anyone tries to hurt you, I’ll chop them up into dinner for both of us and..”

“OK, that’s enough!” Harley brought their lips together and their eyes closed.

The window on Ivy’s door opened up, and then closed again. Then there were three knocks.

“Um, ladies?” Cash’s voice was clearly embarrassed. “We have something very important to discuss.”

“Come on in,” said Ivy.

“I’d love to, but, well … are you decent?”

“No, but it’s not an issueHaving men admire your skin is the greatest pleasure of being a woman!”

“Um, Red,” suggested Harley, “if we’re going to have company, then we should make sure that all our guests feel welcome.”

“Oh, alright. Give us a moment.”

Once they both had gotten dressed, they allowed Cash to come in. Holding a file with a clipboard, he looked down at the two new lovebirds as they sat with their backs against the wall, and their arms behind one another. Cash squatted so he could look at them at eye-level.

“Well, let me cut to the chase. Dr. Quinzel, you’re pregnant.”

They both stared back dumbfoundedly. “I’m what.”

“Pregnant. With twins.”

Ivy looked intently at Harley, waiting for a reaction. Harley gave none. She was motionless for a full minute or two, never blinking, her mouth slightly open, and eventually brought her hand over her stomach.

Ivy turned back to Cash. “So, when do we see the abortion doctor?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m pretty sure it’s Dr. Quinzel’s choice, assuming she can be declared capable of making it.”

“Well, I’m sure that I speak for her when I say that she is no condition or position to carry and birth a child, much less raise one, much less raise two, much less reminders of the most horrific experience of her life.”

“They can be put up for adoption.”

“Oh, sure. I’ll bet plenty of people are willing to take in the offspring of not one, but two psycho rapists!”

“I’m a mom,” Harley said gently.

Ivy and Cash both looked back at her.

“This isn’t right. After all I’ve done, how I hurt you, what I took from you, I don’t deserve this.”

“Do you want this?” asked Ivy.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you want?” asked Cash.

Harley looked at the ground as she struggled for an answer. “I want to be good. I used to be like that, before I became… No. No, I was never good. I was always only trying to make me happy, and never cared about anyone, never cared if I hurt or killed anyone.”

Harley looked up with a few tears on her face and a small smile.

“But now, I have life in me! Before I could only destroy, but now I can create! That means I can create, doesn’t it?”

“The world’s prisons are full of terrible parents,” answered Cash. “Even if you bring up your kids as perfect angels, it wouldn’t shave a day off any of your life sentences.”

“I don’t care about that,” said Harley. “I deserve to be kept in a cage forever. But forever is a long time to become good, isn’t it?”

“How?” asked Ivy. “How do you want to be good?”

Harley looked straight back at her. “I want to help people. I want to help everyone I’ve hurt. Everyone who hurts like them. Like I was supposed to. What I went to school for.”

“They’ll never forgive you,” admitted Ivy.

“I don’t need that. I just need to help them. Only then I’ll redeem myself.”

Ivy clasped all four of their hands together. “If that’s what makes you happy, then I’ll support you all the way through it.”

They kissed on the lips, and then Ivy turned to Cash.

“You’d better make this happen,” she said sternly.

“I’ll see what I can do. Now, about your twins.”

Ivy and Harley looked back at each other.

“Well, Red, I hate to admit it, but we’d both make terrible mothers.”

“Yes, we would, Harl. Is that adoption thing open?”

Cash closed his files and began standing up. “I’ll see what I can do. Take care, ladies.”


	8. Starting on the Path to Goodness

Harley and Ivy shared the same side of a table in an Arkham interrogation room. They happily gawked at photos of the almost-three-month-old Helena Wayne, who’s mother Selina stood across from them, clothed in wealthy attire with her cat Isis on her shoulders.

“Selina, I’m so happy for you!” squealed Harley.

“Yeah, well, she’s quite the handful. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since leaving the hospital.”

“Well, you got all of Bruce’s money, right?” Ivy pointed out. “Shouldn’t that make everything easier?”

“Well, material-wise, yes, but the stresses are the same as any other new parent. Alfred has been great in helping out, but it’s clear he hasn’t dealt with babies in a long time. Hopefully, Holly will be able to lend a hand once she gets out next week.”

“Right, so about Harley’s babies?”

Harley put the photos on the table and looked at Selina with complete seriousness. “Yes, do you have good news?”

“Actually, yes.” Selina sat down across from them. “We’ve found a couple who live in the suburbs about a mile outside Gotham. They’re upper middle class and have clean records, but infertile. After weeks of talking it over, they’ve decided to adopt your twin girls.”

“Oh Harl, that’s wonderful!” Ivy happily hugged her lover.

“However,” continued Selina, “once they get legal custody, you will be denied contact with them forever. You can be updated of their well-being periodically, but that’s entirely up to this couple, and they also have the right to withhold the truth of their parentage. Are you comfortable with all of this?”

“Absolutely,” said Harley affirmingly. “As long as my babies are taken care of.”

“Good. That brings us to this next issue.”

Selina took out a file full of paperwork.

“We’ve found a team of psychiatrists who are willing to train you in PTSD therapy, specializing with victims of violent crimes. They’ll take through a refresher course of your graduate school classes before training starts. Once training is done and you’ve earned the approval of them all, you’ll be given a new identity to counsel from. This will involve changing your name and appearance, and possibly even your voice just to be safe.”

“Well, that makes sense,” admitted Harley. “I can’t risk being exposed.”

“But there’s more,” continued Selina. “Through all of this, and the rest of your life, you will still always be a prisoner.”

“So, we’re gonna live in Arkham forever?” asked Ivy.

“No,” explained Selina. “Once the two of you are released, the government will keep track of your every movement. Everywhere you go - work, home, meals - will have to be approved and monitored by law enforcement. Every phone call and internet search you make will be recorded and analyzed. Oh, and you’ll both be microchipped so the cops where you are at all times. Basically, you’ll have no freedom and no privacy forever.”

“Not even in bed?” asked Ivy, a tad bit seductively.

“Well, OK, yes,” admitted Selina. “That’s gonna be the one safe place for you both.”

“Sounds good to me. What do you think, Harl?”

Harley took a deep breath. “Well, I had freedom, I didn’t use it for what it’s for. I don’t deserve to be free, and that’s a small price to pay to help people.”

“How about you, Ivy?” asked Selina. “Are you OK with this?”

Ivy clasped Harley’s hand over the table. “My precious sunflower is all I care about. If this makes her happy, then I’m happy.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear you’re both in this together. Now, let’s get all these forms signed.”

//////////////////////////////////////////

Harley gave birth to two healthy baby twin girls. Mr. and Mrs. Dennis named them Delia and Deirdre. They promised to send Harley pictures of them every year on their birthday, and they kept that promise.

The training was difficult for Harley, both in terms of learning and exercising knowledge, as well as showing genuine empathy for strangers. But with Ivy’s support by her side, she managed to work hard and earn her certification a year early.

When taking on a new look with a plain brown wig and contact lenses, alongside some rather boring glasses. Her clothes, makeup and hair were all done to make her look professional and attractive, but not memorably beautiful. Her appearance, much like her voice, had to be modified to calm her patients, not seduce them.

Finally, after receiving her new name, Harley met with her first patient.

“Hello. I’m Dr. Cindy Morrison, and I’m here to help!”


End file.
